


Only a gentler kind of sleep

by lehnsherry



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Banter, Ben thinks fondly of Rey, Canonical Character Death, Enemies to Friends to Something A Bit More, Force Ghost(s), Hopeful Ending, M/M, Post-Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, Pre-Slash, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker Spoilers, and bickers with Hux as always, endings and beginnings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-20
Updated: 2019-12-20
Packaged: 2021-02-26 02:40:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,131
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21876055
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lehnsherry/pseuds/lehnsherry
Summary: Ben huffs out a laugh. "I have to admire you then; being so stubborn you became strong in the Force at the last possible moment by sheer will."Hux shakes his head. "You're an idiot, Ren. I didn't do it on purpose. Figures I'd get stuck with youby accident."Ben laughs, almost carefree. "I don't know why, but I'm actually happy about it."Hux is sort of fun, now that there's no power to fight over, and no possible way to kill each other. Seeing his angry little face day in and day out makes Ben feel like there still is a constant in his life - or in his death. Something he can count on, even if it's just someone endlessly miffed about his mere existence."I did betray you, you know that right?" says Hux, perplexed./In which Hux always had the tiniest spark of the Force; just enough to remain as a Force ghost. Ben is endlessly annoyed about this, but not sorry.
Relationships: Armitage Hux/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren, Armitage Hux/Kylo Ren
Comments: 22
Kudos: 191





	Only a gentler kind of sleep

**Author's Note:**

> First Star Wars fic in ages, but after seeing TRoS I just had to write my own kind of happy-ish ending for my favourite boys. Hope you enjoy <3

Ben floats up and takes a seat on a thick tree branch. He's taking care to stay almost invisible, and he's far enough away from the firelight that the three people around it can't see him.

They've built a bonfire and Dameron is roasting some kind of meat on it, the other two looking on with hunger in their eyes, telling him to hurry up. Ben can't quite smell the meat cooking, but at the same time he can see and feel every molecule of it, every last particle making up the fat and the gentle smoke rising from it.

FN-2187 - no, Finn - has an arm around Dameron's waist and seems to be close enough to restrict movement and be more of a bother than of use. He's telling some joke Ben can't quite hear, and they're all laughing, encased in their little bubble of careful happiness against the dark of the night. 

Ben's eyes stray to Rey, and there's the customary roil of sadness somewhere around where his stomach once was. He can see her in half-profile, her eyes crinkling with her laughter and her hair in unruly wisps, soft brown turning to red in the fireglow and black where the light doesn't touch her.

He could go join them, Ben thinks. If he tried very hard, they might even see him, she might even take him by the arm and pull him to sit on the ground beside her.

Her hand might pass through him, though, and he knows the fierce light and the devouring darkness would make him a pale imitation of what he once was, fleeting and feeble. He doesn't want to go to her like that.

It's not that Ben regrets what he did. Fighting Palpatine and saving Rey were some of the best things he ever did, the best things he ever would do. He keeps his eyes on her, seeing how happy she looks. No longer burdened by any unreasonably heavy fate or purpose, she can focus on helping the galaxy along on its way to healing in little ways that she can. She's happy and mostly safe… and he can't quite be sorry.

He does regret not being able to sit there beside her, not being able to gradually learn to know her better. He regrets not knowing if one day they might have been something precious like real friends, or even something more, like he'd wanted to. Sometimes he still thinks he can feel her lips on his, cool and chapped and rough, and it makes him miss life.

Still, he doesn't regret his death. He'd been so tired for so long, and now he finally gets to rest.

It feels good to be a part of the Force, wholly now, and without the pull to either side, dark or light. He still belongs to both in equal measures, but somehow the two sides have an easier time existing as one when he's no longer made of flesh and bones. Only spirit, now, and it… it feels like peace. Like forgiveness.

-

The fire's almost died and Finn has fallen asleep with his head on Rey's shoulder, when Ben catches a glimmer to his left. He turns, an expectant frown already on his face, waiting.

It takes Hux longer to materialize than it's ever taken Ben, even in the beginning.

"Hello, Ren", Hux says evenly, settling to sit beside him. Ben can see the rough bark of the branch through Hux, and it still feels disconcerting. Ben suspects it will for a long time.

"Hux."

"I still can't fathom why you choose to spend so much of your time watching over them." Hux is in a huff like he always is, red hair turned pale by his ghostly state, looking even thinner than he looked in life, deep shadows under his eyes.

"I still can't fathom why you choose to spend yours bothering me", Ben says, though he doesn't really mind, not any more.

"I'll have you know I do plenty of things without you", Hux scoffs. "I like how easy it is to go to distant places and just… listen."

Ben knows Hux does that. Walks into deep forests and barren wastelands and puts his hands to the ground, feeling the Force move in everything around him. Floats around in the cold expanse between stars and listens to the hum of the universe. He could never hear it when he lived, so it must be shocking, to discover he really is only a tiny speck in the great flow of the Force. 

"I went to Arkanis", Hux continues quietly.

"You did?" Ben looks at him more closely. Hux is squeezing his hands tightly together on his lap, biting his lip. The skin seems to lose colour, though it didn't have any to begin with. He's still wearing his uniform, even now, though it isn't pristine like it always was, Before. His hat is nowhere to be seen, his collar unbuttoned, and there's a scorched hole on the left leg of his trousers, and another on the chest of his jacket.

"I went into the sea to see the monsters."

That means something to Hux, but Ben doesn't know why. He's only been able to find out that Hux's father had a school on Arkanis, and that Hux has bad memories from the place.

"What were they like?" he asks, in the same quiet tone Hux is using.

"Just big fish", Hux laughs, bitter for some reason. "I suppose we're all ultimately less than."

Less than what, Ben doesn't ask. He knows.

Below them, Rey is falling asleep too, leaning her cheek on Finn's hair.

Ben could try to visit her dreams, it might even be easier than going to her in the waking world and trying to hold onto a form she could see and hear.

He doesn't. He'd be a pale copy. Less than, just like Hux said.

"Guess we are", he whispers. Shoots Hux a lopsided smirk.

"Though you're more than I thought, General. I tried so hard to sense the faintest echo of the Force in you, when we were Snoke's, and I never found anything. How did you hide it, all these years?" 

Hux laughs. "Do you think I would have hidden it, if there was even the slightest chance I could have gotten back at you somehow? Wouldn't I have weaponized it if I'd known I had it?"

Ben huffs out a laugh. "You definitely would have. I have to admire you then; being so stubborn you became strong in the Force at the last possible moment by sheer will."

Hux shakes his head. "You're an idiot, Ren. I didn't do it on purpose. Figures I'd get stuck with you _by accident."_

Ben laughs, almost carefree. "I don't know why, but I'm actually happy about it."

Hux is sort of fun, now that there's no power to fight over, and no possible way to kill each other. Seeing his angry little face day in and day out makes Ben feel like there still is a constant in his life, or in his death. Something he can count on, even if it's just someone endlessly miffed about his mere existence.

"I did betray you, you know that right?" says Hux, perplexed.

"Yes, it was pretty noble of you, wasn't it?"

"No. I just wanted you to lose."

Ben smiles, a little melancholy. "And I did. Are you happy?"

"Honestly?" Hux asks, smiling as well, though he's more rueful. "Yes. If I couldn't be Supreme Leader, I'm happy as hell you couldn't either, nor Palpatine."

"You'd rather take the 'lawless chaos?'" Ben still remembers how passionate Hux always was about controlling the whole galaxy, and how ardently he wanted to give it his own kind of order in return, even if it was a peace kept only by fear of him and his Starkiller base.

"Better lawless chaos with no leader than lawful chaos under you or stars know what kind of utter madness under Palpatine." Hux has gone all huffy, though there's a smile tugging at a corner of his mouth.

Ben chuckles and looks back at the three sleepy friends around the fire. Dameron's eyes are half closed and he seems in danger of tipping forward and frying his nose in the embers.

Ben waves a hand, and across the clearing, a twig snaps on the ground. It's not a loud noise, but Dameron sits up, alert. He sits quietly for a moment, looking around, hand on a blaster at his hip. When nothing happens, he turns to prod Finn and Rey awake, and despite their grumbling, he herds them away towards the command centre and their beds.

Ben and Hux watch them go in silence, until their voices can no longer be heard.

"Don't you think it's bad for you to lurk like this?" Hux asks quietly.

"What do you mean?"

"Being alone and dreaming about things you can't have. About living people and living things."

Ben sighs, pulling a leg up onto the branch and hugging the knee to his chest. "I guess", he concedes, "But I like it, too. Knowing she's okay."

Hux hums, not saying anything for a long time. He mirrors Ben's position, seemingly unconsciously, but pulls his other leg up too.

"You're not with them anymore, though." Hux seems to still enjoy stating the obvious, hurtful things as much as he always did.

"No", Ben admits. "I'll cling for a little while more, If you don't mind." His tone becomes sardonic, but he doesn't exactly mean to show he's affected.

"At least I'm not all alone", he continues, jostling Hux none too gently with his shoulder. "There's always you."

"There's always me", Hux concedes, chuckling and shaking his head. "It's still not good for you", he repeats, clearly just to be annoying.

"Don't you think it's bad for you to always go looking at your forests and seas and asteroid fields all alone?" Ben asks him.

Hux huffs out a breath, surprised. "I do listen to people too, sometimes. I just… I want to learn to know the Force. It's unsettling, not knowing what I'm made of now."

"You were always made of it, we all are", Ben says, almost gently. Hux makes a face.

"Smartass. Easy for you to say, since you know everything about it."

"Not everything", Ben laughs. Not nearly.

"You laugh a lot nowadays", Hux muses, looking like the thought annoys him.

"I guess I have fewer reasons not to. Less to worry about."

Hux tilts his head. "Must be nice."

"What are you worrying about, then?" 

Hux looks down, his fingers absentmindedly picking at the scorched hole in his trousers. The translucent skin underneath the fabric seems flawless, no blaster wounds in sight.

"Why are you still wearing those, by the way? It's been months."

It's hard to say how many; Ben and Hux aren't tied to existence and time the same way living beings are, and sometimes it's easier to lose shape for a time, just floating in the current, asleep almost. 

Hux makes an embarrassed sound. "Because I don't know how not to. I've been angry about how you're in a different fancy robe everytime I see you."

Ben snorts, and then laughs harder at Hux's offended expression. He reaches out a hand and lays it on Hux's chest over the hole. The fabric knits back together as he tells it to, and Hux's chest rises and falls quickly in a breath he doesn't need. He feels warm to the touch, like nothing has for a long time, his useless ghost heart beating a staccato rhythm near Ben's hand.

"I could teach you", Ben offers, surprising himself as much as Hux.

"I have no intention of becoming your… padawan", Hux spits the word like it tastes revolting.

"Your choice", Ben smiles, enjoying Hux's sneer.

"Kylo Ren", Hux hisses. "How can you still be the most irritating thing in my life after I've fucking died?"

The name is unfamiliar now, but at the same time hearing it from Hux feels like coming home. He won't tell Hux to call him Ben; Hux probably wouldn't obey him in the first place, and besides, a part of him likes keeping that tie to his past.

"It's a gift", he hums. "How about it?"

"Fine", Hux growls and grabs Ben's hand from his chest, putting it on the hole in his trousers. "Show me."

Ben can feel his warmth under his palm, through the fabric and on the patch of bare skin. He can feel the way this strange half-life of theirs pulses through Hux, and the way he trembles just the tiniest bit under the touch. Icy blue eyes meet his, fiercely, and Ben smiles.

"I will."

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! <3 Please let me know what you think!


End file.
